Steering Wheel Cocked

[BIF623]

Couple weeks ago I was driving my truck down a slow, rocky downhill and the left tire hit a sizeable boulder which jarred the truck. When I got down the hill I noticed my steering wheel is cocked 45 degrees to the right when I'm going straight.........

 

What is out of alignment, is it something in the steering stem or something in the linkage below. What's the fix here? Aside from the clunking and ball joint wear issues (described in another post) everything seems to be normal and the truck tracks straight when cruising down the highway. Thanks.

[Silverado4x4]

Sounds like you bent your steering arm.

[Matt_]

something is bent. Make sure you check the control arms, they bend too.

[BIF623]

Nope, nothing bent. Just removed the steering shaft, checked tie rods, checked pitman and idler arms. Everything appears to be normal.

 

When the steering shaft is aligned with a straight steering wheel (and tires are straight) the steering box input shaft is cocked. Could I have twisted the pitman arm on the steering box output shaft? Its splined, I wouldn't think it would be that easy...........

[eliharp]

Nope, nothing bent. Just removed the steering shaft, checked tie rods, checked pitman and idler arms. Everything appears to be normal.

 

When the steering shaft is aligned with a straight steering wheel (and tires are straight) the steering box input shaft is cocked. Could I have twisted the pitman arm on the steering box output shaft? Its splined, I wouldn't think it would be that easy...........

 

 

if it's the same as my gmt800 1500, then no, the splines could only be out by 180 degrees, and you'd definetly have to remove and re-install incorrectly. i'd say just get an alignment, you'll need one anyways, and they'll tell you if it's a drag link, or tie rod issue. A small amount of mis-alignment equals quite a bit of difference at the wheel. I experienced this after redoing my entire front end, and they said the alignment was only out by fractions.

good luck!

[chevy6490]

Happend to me once, the nut that holds the tie rod from coming out of adjustment wasn't tight enough and the tie rod almost backed out all the way.

[jro909]

have sorta the same issue, had the truck aligned and dealer said everything was tight..so idk wtf the deal is, i figured it being a 2wd its the kick back from the road surface maybe